I’m sitting here listening to a recording of my friend Alex’s show on Fleet Fm, Auckland’s free form radio station. She & Kat do swapsies on Saturdays on the “Queer Not Folk” show (awesome name). I used to do shows on Fleet too, back in the olden days of 3 years ago or so (see early posts on this blog, which have my playlists and a few silly recordings).

I love the magic of the internet which lets me listen to my friends play records on the otherside of the world, and reminds me of what the New Zealand accent really sounds like (it’s teeen thurtyseeevun, eh Alex! * love *). I was even lucky enough to get a dedication from Sam, who was doing a show on 95 bfm on Thursday last week, his Auckland 11pm or so, my London 10am boredom in the library office, trying to stay sane. It definitely made clicking my mouse around the computer a lot more warm and fuzzy.

Anyway, it also kind of made me a bit sad, cos I haven’t really been all that excited about music much lately. Which is pretty odd, considering I now live in London and have my pick of, like, 4 gigs a week, plus cheap records and amazing record stores etc etc.

I can only put it down to settling in issues. When I was in Auckland and was doing a radio show, and updating this blog more often etc, I had more motivation to hunt out new music. Plus, gigs were always in 1 of 3 places, all within walking distance of my flat, and all of which people I know would definitely be at.

Which totally sounds like me whingeing and copping out, poor Melissa, has to catch the bus all the way to South London to go see the Slits or whatever….It’s not really like that, I feel super appreciative of the fact that there is so much to choose from here, but I guess yeah, the travelling that is so inevitable in London can get me down (especially after commuting to and from work Mon-Fri – bleuchy boringness), as can the occasional lack of a gig buddy. I shudder to think about how many amazing shows I’ve missed, merely cos I’ve been too lazy to go to a gig on my own. Obviously I lack commitment! This is the sort of thing that happens when you move to a new country, right? And other people manage to sort themselves out and go anyway, right? So I’d love to know some tips for solo-gig going so I can learn to get over myself! What does one do between sets? And, take a book, or just stand around looking gormless, pretend to text someone or, horror of horrors, strike up conversation with a stranger? Get drunk or no? What about if it’s not just a straightforward gig, but more of a club night gig, with a band playing in the middle that you really want to see? huh? huh?

Near the end of last year, I made a rough list of the number of bands I’ve seen since I arrived in London. The list came to roughly 50, which, if you consider most gigs have around 3 bands each really only works out to me going to 1 gig a month (this is not counting DJ nights, or btw, punk gigs which I occasionally go to with my girlfriend, but generally have no idea who is playing, so don’t think it counts to add to my list, fun as they are). That is a really piss-poor amount of shows, and I aim to try harder this year!

Here is a list of shows coming up in London which I am really and truly going to make a big effort to go to, and which I am excited about, to boot: